Establishing a link between identifiers without disclosing specific identifying information

ABSTRACT

A method for linking user identifiers. The method includes receiving, by a linking server and from a company server, a first data structure comprising entries. Each entry comprising a user tag, a first hashed user information, and a second hashed user information. The method includes receiving, by a linking server and from a partner server, a second data structure comprising entries. Each entry comprising a bridge tag, a first hashed bridge information, and a second hashed bridge information. The method includes retrieving, by the linking server and from the first data structure, a first entry of the entries and retrieving, by the linking server and from the second data structure, a first entry of the entries. The method includes linking the user tag of the first entry of the first data structure to the bridge tag of the first entry of the second data structure to generate a first linkage.

BACKGROUND

Businesses that provide internet-related services and products studyconsumer behavior by capturing, organizing, and analyzing web datagathered from client computing devices. Web data may include useridentifiable information that businesses store in protected databases.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to mapping ofspecific identifying information between businesses to improve thedelivery of internet-related services and products to customers.

One implementation disclosed herein is a method for linking useridentifiers. The method includes receiving, by a linking server and froma company server, a first data structure comprising entries. Each entryincludes a user tag, a first hashed user information, and a secondhashed user information; each entry associated with a correspondingclient device. The method includes receiving, by a linking server andfrom a partner server, a second data structure including entries, eachentry including a bridge tag, a first hashed bridge information, and asecond hashed bridge information; each entry associated with acorresponding client device. The method also includes retrieving, by thelinking server and from the first data structure, a first entry of theentries of the first data structure. The method includes retrieving, bythe linking server and from the second data structure, a first entry ofthe entries of the second data structure. The method includes comparing,by the linking server, the first hashed user information of the firstentry of the first data structure to the first hashed bridge informationof the first entry of the second data structure. The method includeslinking, by the linking server and in response to determining a match,the user tag of the first entry of the first data structure to thebridge tag of the first entry of the second data structure to generate afirst linkage.

In some implementations, comparing includes parsing, by the linkingserver, the first hashed user information of the first entry of thefirst data structure into a first set of characters. In someimplementations, the method includes parsing, by the linking server, thefirst hashed bridge information of the first entry of the second datastructure into a second set of characters. In some implementations, themethod includes comparing, by the linking server, a character from thefirst set of characters to a character from the second set ofcharacters.

In some implementations, the method includes providing, by the linkingserver and to the company server, the first linkage. In someimplementations, the linking server exists inside a clean roomenvironment and the company server exists outside the clean roomenvironment and the partner server exists outside the clean roomenvironment.

In some implementations, the method includes removing, by the linkingserver, the first entry of the first data structure and the first entryof the second data structure. In some implementations, the methodincludes retrieving, by the linking server and from the first datastructure, a second entry of the entries, retrieving, by the linkingserver and from the second data structure, a second entry of theentries; and comparing, by the linking server, the first hashed userinformation of the second entry of the first data structure to the firsthashed bridge information of the second entry of the second datastructure.

In some implementations, the method includes determining, by the linkingserver, a mismatch between the first hashed user information of thesecond entry of the first data structure to the first hashed bridgeinformation of the second entry of the second data structure, andcomparing, by the linking server, the second hashed user information ofthe second entry of the first data structure to the second hashed bridgeinformation of the second entry of the second data structure.

In some implementations, the method includes determining, by the linkingserver, a mismatch between the first hashed user information of thefirst entry of the first data structure to the first hashed bridgeinformation of the first entry of the second data structure. In someimplementations, the method includes retrieving, by the linking serverand from the second data structure, a second entry of the entries. Insome implementations, the method includes comparing, by the linkingserver, the first hashed user information of the first entry of thefirst data structure to the first hashed bridge information of thesecond entry of the second data structure.

In some implementations, the method includes comparing, by the linkingserver, the second hashed user information of the first entry of thefirst data structure to the second hashed bridge information of thesecond entry of the second data structure. In some implementations, themethod includes linking, by the linking server and in response todetermining a match, the user tag of the first entry of the first datastructure to the bridge tag of the first entry of the second datastructure to generate a first linkage. In some implementations, themethod includes providing, by the linking server and to the companyserver, the first linkage.

In another aspect, the present disclosure is directed to a system forlinking user identifiers. The system includes a linking serverconfigured to receive, from a company server, a first data structurecomprising entries. Each entry including a user tag, a first hashed userinformation, and a second hashed user information. Each entry associatedwith a user of a client device.

In some implementations, the system includes a linking server configuredto receive, from a partner server, a second data structure comprisingentries. Each entry comprising a bridge tag, a first hashed bridgeinformation, and a second hashed bridge information. Each entryassociated with a user of a client device.

In some implementations, the system includes a linking server configuredto retrieve, from the first data structure, a first entry of the entriesof the first data structure. In some implementations, the systemincludes a linking server configured to retrieve, from the second datastructure, a first entry of the entries of the second data structure. Insome implementations, the system includes a linking server configured tocompare, the first hashed user information of the first entry of thefirst data structure to the first hashed bridge information of the firstentry of the second data structure. In some implementations, the systemincludes a linking server configured to link, in response to determininga match, the user tag of the first entry of the first data structure tothe bridge tag of the first entry of the second data structure togenerate a first linkage.

In some implementations, the system includes a linking server configuredto parse the first hashed user information of the first entry of thefirst data structure into a first set of characters. In someimplementations, the system includes a linking server configured toparse the first hashed bridge information of the first entry of thesecond data structure into a second set of characters. In someimplementations, the system includes a linking server configured tocompare a character from the first set of characters to a character fromthe second set of characters.

In some implementations, the system includes a linking server configuredto provide, to the company server, the first linkage. In someimplementations, the linking server exists inside a clean roomenvironment. In some implementations, the linking server exists outsidethe clean room environment. In some implementations, the partner serverexists outside the clean room environment.

In some implementations, the system includes a linking server configuredto remove the first entry of the first data structure and the firstentry of the second data structure. In some implementations, the systemincludes a linking server configured to retrieve, from the first datastructure, a second entry of the entries. In some implementations, thesystem includes a linking server configured to retrieve, from the seconddata structure, a second entry of the entries. In some implementations,the system includes a linking server configured to compare the firsthashed user information of the second entry of the first data structureto the first hashed bridge information of the second entry of the seconddata structure.

In some implementations, the system includes a linking server configuredto determine a mismatch between the first hashed user information of thesecond entry of the first data structure to the first hashed bridgeinformation of the second entry of the second data structure. In someimplementations, the system includes a linking server configured tocompare the second hashed user information of the second entry of thefirst data structure to the second hashed bridge information of thesecond entry of the second data structure. In some implementations, thesystem includes a linking server configured to determine a mismatchbetween the first hashed user information of the first entry of thefirst data structure to the first hashed bridge information of the firstentry of the second data structure. In some implementations, the systemincludes a linking server configured to retrieve, from the second datastructure, a second entry of the entries of the second data structure.In some implementations, the system includes a linking server configuredto compare the first hashed user information of the first entry of thefirst data structure to the first hashed bridge information of thesecond entry of the second data structure.

In some implementations, the system includes a linking server configuredto compare the second hashed user information of the first entry of thefirst data structure to the second hashed bridge information of thesecond entry of the second data structure. In some implementations, thesystem includes a linking server configured to link, in response todetermining a match, the user tag of the first entry of the first datastructure to the bridge tag of the first entry of the second datastructure to generate a first linkage. In some implementations, thesystem includes a linking server configured to provide, to the companyserver, the first linkage.

In another aspect, the present disclosure is directed to a method forlinking user identifiers. The method includes receiving, by a linkingserver and from a company server, a first data structure comprisingentries. Each entry comprising a user tag, a first hashed userinformation, and a second hashed user information, Each entry associatedwith a user of a client device.

In some implementations, the method includes receiving, by a linkingserver and from a partner server, a second data structure comprisingentries. Each entry comprising a bridge tag, a first hashed bridgeinformation, and a second hashed bridge information. Each entryassociated with a user of a client device.

In some implementations, the method includes generating, by the linkingserver, a third data structure based on the first data structure and thesecond data structure. In some implementations, the method includesproviding, by the linking server and to the company server, the thirddata structure.

In some implementations, the first data structure includes a first emailaddress associated with a client device and a first phone numberassociated with the client device. In some implementations, the seconddata structure includes a second email address associated with theclient device and a second phone number associated with the clientdevice.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The details of one or more implementations are set forth in theaccompanying drawings and the description below. Other features,aspects, and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent from thedescription, the drawings, and the claims, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one implementation of an environment forestablishing a link between user IDs of two parties using a data cleanroom.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one implementation of an environment forparties to gather personal identifiable information (PII) data from aclient device.

FIG. 3A is a block diagram of a client device, according to oneimplementation;

FIG. 3B is a block diagram of a PII server, according to oneimplementation;

FIG. 3C is a block diagram of a linking server, according to oneimplementation;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of the operations taken by a PII server andclient device(s) in some implementations of a process for gathering PIIdata; and

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of the operations taken by a linking server andPII servers in some implementations of a process for linking user tagsand bridge tags.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of the operations taken by a linking server andPII servers in some implementations of a process for linking user tagsand bridge tags.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of the operations taken by PII servers in someimplementations of a process for linking user tags and bridge tagswithout use of a clean room environment.

Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicatelike elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Businesses store personal identifiable information (PII) shared by userswho visit a business's website, e.g., to view content or conducttransactions. Businesses map this information to user identifiers thatdistinguish users from other users. By studying user ID-to-PII mappingdata stored in their databases, businesses may learn about theindividual purchasing habits for each of their users. Businesses mayfurther improve the delivery of products and services to customers ifthey also have access to another business's PII data for the same user.For instance, a car manufacturer (“company”) may promote cars on thewebsite of their parent company and trucks on the website of theirsubsidiary company. A user shopping for cars on the parent company'swebsite may share PII data (e.g., email address, phone number, etc.)with the website, which assigns the PII data to a user identifierreferred to herein as a “user tag.” This same user may also visit thewebsite for a third-party company (“data partner”) that promotes trucks.Similarly, the data partner receives and assigns the user's PII data toa user identifier, referred to herein as a “bridge tag.” By establishinga linkage between the company's user tag and the data partner's bridgetag, the company may discover that the user also has an interest inpurchasing a truck. Accordingly, the company may customize the look andfeel of the parent company's car website specifically for the user toalso include images of trucks available for purchase on its subsidiarycompany's truck website.

One approach to establishing linkage involves the data partnerproviding, to the company, a bridge tag paired with hashed PII data.Many hashing functions, including cryptographic hashing functions, aredesigned to be practically non-invertible (i.e., irreversible), suchthat possession of hashed data does not necessarily result in possessionof the corresponding input data. The hashed PII data is the output fromapplying a hashing function to the PII data, allowing for comparison ofPII data elements without revealing the PII data itself. In someimplementations, the data partner may provide a bridge tag identifying auser and a hashed value of the user's email address. The company thencompares the data partner's hashed PII data to the company's hashed PIIdata to establish a link between the user tag and bridge tag. Thisapproach works well when using only a single PII data element, such aswhen matching a user tag and a bridge tag based only on a user's emailaddress.

However, to match on multiple PII data elements (e.g., a user's emailand phone number), the data partner must provide a bridge tag pairedwith both a hashed email and a hashed phone number. Consequently, thisreveals internal data linkages to the company. That is, it reveals thedata partner's email address to phone number linkages for the datapartner's users. Sharing information between the company and datapartner to match on multiple PII data in this manner may provide enoughinformation to reveal the identity of a specific user linked to the PIIdata.

Accordingly, the present disclosure is directed to systems and methodsfor establishing a link between the user IDs of two parties (e.g.,establishing a linkage between a company's user tag and a data partner'sbridge tag) without exposing a party's PII data map to the other party.In some implementations, the described systems and methods use anindependent or neutral intermediary, e.g., one or more servers operatingin a clean room or clean room environment. In some implementations, thedescribed systems and methods use encrypted direct communications, suchas encrypted peer-to-peer communications, that are not necessarilyrouted through a clean room.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one implementation of an environment 100for establishing a link between user identifications (ID) of two partiesusing a data clean room. In general, the system and method discussedherein allows two parties (e.g., a company and a data partner) to sharetheir respective user ID-PII data maps with a server independentlyoperating in a data clean room environment. The clean room environmentis a separate, physical, and secure location isolated from theactivities of the parties such that only authorized individuals (notaffiliated with either of the parties) may handle sensitive data orinformation received from the parties. To further protect each user'sidentity, the parties hash their PII data associated with each userprior to sharing the user ID-PII maps with the data clean roomenvironment. The server in the clean room matches the hashed PII data ofthe company's users to the hashed PII data of the data partner's usersto establish a link between the company's user tags and the datapartner's bridge tags to identify common users. In one implementation,the company may gather email addresses and phone numbers associated withusers who visit the company's website to view content or to make apurchase of company goods. Likewise, the data partner may also gatheremail addresses and phone numbers associated with users who visit theirwebsite for similar reasons. Each party then sends its gathered PII datato the data clean room where the third-party server identifies thecommon users based on a waterfall approach, links the company's user ID(“user tag”) with the data partner's user ID (“bridge tag”) for eachcommon user, and provides the linkages to the company without revealingthe data partner's PII linkages (e.g., the association of a particularemail address with a particular phone number) to the company. In someimplementations, the linkages are provided to both the company and thedata partner. In some implementations, the linkages are stored at theclean room and the parties must physically visit the clean room toretrieve the linkages.

In greater detail, the environment 100 includes a company 116, a datapartner 132, and a clean room 102. The company 116 includes PII server118 a (also referred to as “company server”) for delivering user tag(UT) PII mapping 122 to systems (e.g., linking server 104) in the cleanroom 102. The company 116 also includes UT PII mapping storage 120 forstoring UT PII mapping 122. The data partner 132 includes a PII server118 b (also referred to as “partner server”) for delivering bridge tags(BT) PII mapping 144 to systems (e.g., linking server 104) in the cleanroom 102 and BT PII mapping storage 134 for storing BT PII mapping 144.

Clean room 102 includes a linking server 104 for (1) generating linkages124 based on UT PII mapping 122 and BT PII mapping 144, and (2) forproviding the linkages 124 to company 116. Clean room 102 also includesPII mapping storage 106 for storing both UT PII mapping 122 and BT PIImapping 144. Clean room 102 also includes a linkage storage 108 forstoring linkages 124. The environment 100 may include multiple companies116 having one or more PII servers 118 a, multiple data partners 132having one or more PII servers 118 b, and multiple clean rooms 102having one or more linking servers 104. Although not illustrated, insome implementations, company 116 and data partner 132 communicate withclean room 102 by way of a network gateway, network router, networkfirewall, network switch, network accelerator, Wi-Fi access points orhotspots, or other devices.

PII servers 118 a, 118 b may gather personal identifiable information(PII) associated with a user of one or more client devices. In oneimplementation, PII data may include, a user's name, email address,phone number, billing information, street address, citizenship,biometrics, financial information, driver license and other governmentalidentification numbers, birth , birth place, employment history, familyhistory, medical history, geolocation history, social security numbers,tax identification numbers, medical identification numbers, and deviceinformation (e.g., Media Access Control (MAC) address, device ID 314,session ID 316, and any other information that may be intercepted by thecollection agent 312 illustrated in FIG. 3). PII servers 118 a, 118 bmay assign a user identifier to each identified user of a client device.In one implementation, PII server 118 a assigns a “user tag” to eachuser of a client device that connects or communicates to computingdevices, servers, disk drives, or webpages owned, operated, oraffiliated with company 116. Similarly, PII server 118 b assigns a“bridge tag” to each user of a client device that connects orcommunicates to computing devices, servers, disk drives, or webpagesowned, operated, or affiliated with data partner 132.

In some implementations, a user assigned to a user ID (e.g., user tag orbridge tag) may be associated with more than one client device. In someimplementations, a user assigned to a user ID may be associated withonly a single client device. PII servers 118 a, 118 b may periodicallyreview user tags and bridge tags to access whether to un-assign a usertag and bridge tag from a user of a client device based on inactivity orreduced activity of the client device. In one implementation, PII server118 a may un-assign a user tag from a client device that has notcommunicated with PII server 118 a for longer than a predeterminedamount of time.

PII server 118 a stores the gathered PII data and corresponding usertags for each user in user tag (UT) PII mapping storage 120 in a datastructure format as illustrated by data structure 126. Data structure126 shows the mapping of user tags to PII data. Each entry 127, 128,129, 130, 131 represents a different user for one or more clientdevices. The column titled “mapping #” numbers each entry, the columntitled “user tag” shows the user tag that PII server 118 a assigned tothat specific user, the column titled “email address” shows the emailaddress for that specific user, and the column titled “phone #” showsthe phone number for that specific user. Although shown with only twoPII data columns (e.g., email address and phone #) and five entries(i.e., representing five users), data structure 126 may include anynumber of PII data columns and any number entries.

PII server 118 b stores the gathered PII data and corresponding bridgetags for each user in bridge tag (BT) PII mapping storage 134 in a datastructure format as illustrated by data structure 136. Data structure136 shows the mapping of bridge tags to PII data. Each entry 138, 139,140, 141, 142 represents a different user for one or more clientdevices. The column titled “mapping #” numbers each entry, the columntitled “bridge tag” shows the bridge tag that PII server 118 b assignedto that specific user, the column titled “email address” shows the emailaddress for that specific user, and the column titled “phone #” showsthe phone number for that specific user. Although shown with only twoPII columns (e.g., email address and phone #) and five entries (i.e.,representing five users), data structure 136 may include any number ofPII data columns and any number of users.

PII servers 118 a, 118 b may take steps to protect the privacy ofcompany's 116 users and data partner's 132 users. In someimplementations, the PII servers 118 a, 118 b each apply a cryptographichashing function to the gathered PII data associated with theirrespective users. In one implementation, PII server 118 a may retrieve(e.g., from UT PII mapping storage 120) the email address mapped toentry 127 of data structure 126, hash the retrieved value, and overwritethe stored email address with its hash value equivalent. PII server 118a may then retrieve (e.g., from UT PII mapping storage 120) the phonenumber mapped to entry 127 of data structure 126, hash the retrievedvalue, and overwrite the stored phone number with its hash valueequivalent. PII server 118 a may repeat the process for each entry in UTPII mapping storage 120. PII server 118 b may execute the same hashingroutine for data stored in BT PII mapping storage 134. In someimplementations, the PII servers 118 a, 118 b support cryptographichashing functions. In some implementations, the PII servers 118 a, 118 bsupport various hash function algorithms including, for example, HMAC,SHA-1, SHA-2, SHA-3, MD2, MD4, and MD5. To ensure that linking server104 may identify common users, company 116 and data partner 132 use thesame hashing function to hash each of their respective data. In someimplementations, the parties use a default hashing function generallyaccepted in the industry. In some implementations, the parties (e.g.,company 116 and data partner 132) communicate with one another to agreeon a specific hashing function to use prior to sharing their data withlinking server 104.

PII server 118 a may receive a request from a system in clean room 102(e.g., linking server 104) to deliver the gathered PII data andcorresponding user tags from company 116 to clean room 102. In responseto the request, PII server 118 a retrieves data structure 126 from UTPII Mapping Storage 120 and transmits the retrieved data (e.g., UT PIImapping 122) to linking server 104. In some implementations, PII server118 a may deliver UT PII mapping 122 to PII mapping storage 106. In someimplementations, PII server 118 a sends UT PII mapping 122 to linkingserver 104 periodically (e.g., every minute, hour, day, week, month, orany combination thereof) without receiving a request from linking server104.

PII server 118 b may receive a request from a system in clean room 102(e.g., linking server 104) to deliver the gathered PII data andcorresponding bridge tags from data partner 132 to clean room 102. Inresponse to the request, PII server 118 b retrieves data structure 136from BT PII mapping storage 134 and transmits the retrieved data (e.g.,BT PII mapping 144) to linking server 104. In some implementations, PIIserver 118 b may deliver BT PII mapping 144 to PII mapping storage 106.In some implementations, PII server 118 b sends BT PII mapping 144 tolinking server 104 periodically (e.g., every minute, hour, day, week,month, or any combination thereof) without receiving a request fromlinking server 104.

Linking server 104 establishes links between user tags and bridge tagsby using a waterfall approach. The waterfall approach first compareshashed PII data of a first type (e.g., email address) associated witheach user in UT PII mapping 122 with hashed PII data of the same type(e.g., email address) associated with each user in BT PII mapping 144.Linking server 104 links the user tags and bridge tags associated withany matching PII data by storing the user tags and bridge tags in adatabase (e.g., linkage storage 108). In response to identifying amatch, linking server 104 removes (from PII mapping storage 106) theuser tag and all its associated PII data and the bridge tag and all itsassociated PII data. After linking server 104 compares all hashed PIIdata of a particular type (e.g., email address), linking server 104compares hashed PII data of a second type (e.g., phone number)associated with each user in UT PII mapping 122 with hashed PII data ofthe same type (e.g., phone number) associated with each user in BT PIImapping 144. Linking server 104 continues the comparing and removingprocess until all PII types are compared. The waterfall approach maycompare any type of PII data and in any order. In one implementation,linking server 104 may compare hashed email address, then hashed phonenumbers, then hashed social security numbers. In one implementation,linking server 104 may compare hashed phone numbers, then hashed socialsecurity numbers, and then hashed email addresses. In someimplementations, the waterfall approach may compare raw, un-hashed PIIdata. In some implementations, the waterfall approach may compareencrypted PII data. PII data may be encrypted, for example, using aversion of an encryption algorithm such as triple Data EncryptionStandard (DES), RSA, blowfish, twofish, or the Advanced EncryptionStandard (AES).

The waterfall approach may be explained in greater detail by referencingdata structures 110, 126, 136 in FIG. 1. In one implementation, linkingserver 104 retrieves the hashed email address (e.g., cat@email.com) fromentry 127 corresponding to the first user in data structure 126 and thehashed email address (e.g., snake@email.com) from entry 138corresponding to the first user in data structure 136. Linking server104 compares each retrieved hashed value to determine whether theretrieved values match. Since cat@email.com does not matchsnake@email.com, linking server 104 retrieves the hashed email address(e.g., bird@email.com) from entry 139 corresponding to the second userin data structure 136. By comparing the retrieved values, linking server104 determines that cat@email.com does not match bird@email.com. Inresponse to the mismatch, linking server 104 retrieves the hashed emailaddress (e.g., cat@email.com) from entry 140 corresponding to the thirduser in data structure 136. Linking server 104 compares the two valuesand determines a match, and in response to the match, linking server 104establishes a link between the user tag (e.g., 9288) in entry 127corresponding to the first user in data structure 126 and the user tag(e.g., 4263) in entry 140 corresponding to the third user in datastructure 136. Linking server 104 establishes a link by generating datastructure 110 and storing data structure 110 in linkage storage 108.

Once linking server 104 compares (and attempts to match) all entries indata structure 126 with data structure 136 based on a hashed emailaddress, linking server repeats the comparison/matching process using ahashed phone number. In one implementation, linking server 104 retrievesthe hashed phone number (e.g., 555-0140) from entry 128 corresponding tothe second user in data structure 126 and the hashed phone number (e.g.,555-9106) from entry 138 corresponding to the first user in datastructure 136. Linking server 104 compares each retrieved hashed valueto determine whether the retrieved values match. Since ‘555-0140’ doesnot match ‘555-9106,’ linking server 104 retrieves the next hashed phonenumber (e.g., 555-8136) from entry 139 of data structure 136.Eventually, linking server finds a match between entry 128 correspondingto the second user in data structure 126 and entry 142 corresponding tothe fifth user in data structure 136. By comparing multiple PII dataassociated with each user, linking server 104 successfully identifiesall common users. In one implementation, linking server 104 failed todiscover that the second user in data structure 126 and the fifth userin data structure 136 are indeed the same user because this user appearsto have two different email addresses (e.g., dog1@email.com anddog2@email.com). However, Linking server 104 made a successful matchwhen comparing multiple PII data (email address and phone number) foreach user.

Linking server 104 links the user identifications of company 116 anddata partner 132 by generating linkages 124 in a data structure format(e.g., data structure 110) and storing in linkage storage 108. In oneimplementation, data structure 110 shows the mapping of company's 116user tags and data partner's 132 bridge tags. Each entry 111, 112, 113,114, 115 represents a different user for one or more client devices. Thecolumn titled “linkage #” numbers each entry, the column titled “usertag” shows the user tag that PII server 118 a assigned to that specificuser, the column titled “bridge tag” shows the bridge tag that PIIserver 118 b assigned to that specific user. Although shown with onlytwo user identification columns (e.g., user tag and bridge tag) and fiveentries (i.e., five users), data structure 110 may include any number ofuser identification columns (i.e., representing the matching of useridentifications from multiple data partners 132 and multiple companies116) and any number of entries.

Linking server 104 sends linkages 124 to company 116. Although linkages124 reveal the matching of user tags to bridge tags, they do not revealthe data partner's PII linkages (e.g., email address to phone number,email address to tax ID, phone number to social security number) tocompany 116. In some implementations, company 116 may de-encrypt thelinkages 124 to reveal data partner's 132 PII linkages. In someimplementations, linking server 104 sends linkages 124 to both company116 and data partner 132. In some implementations, linking server 104only stores linkages 124 in linkage storage 108. In someimplementations, linking server 104 erases all contents from linkagestorage 108 and PII mapping storage 106 after linking server 104 sendslinkages 124 to the appropriate party (e.g., company 116, data partner132, or both).

In some implementations, PII servers 118 a, 118 b and linking server 104generate their respective data structures 110, 126, 136 using alternatedata structure types, such as an array, a linked list, a record, aunion, a tagged union, a class, a tree, and a queue. Accordingly,linking server 104 may establish a link between company's 116 user tagsand data partner's 132 bridge tags using any of these data structuretypes.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one implementation of an environment 200for parties to gather PII data from a client device. The environment 200may include network 202, e.g., a local area network (LAN), wide areanetwork (WAN), the Internet, a Bluetooth network, or a combination ofthese or other networks, that connects a client device 204 with company116 and data partner 132. In some implementations, data flows throughthe network 202 from a source node to a destination node as a flow ofdata packets, e.g., in the form of data packets in accordance with theOpen Systems Interconnection (“OSI”) layers. A flow of packets may use,for example, an OSI layer-4 transport protocol such as the User DatagramProtocol (“UDP”), the Transmission Control Protocol (“TCP”), or theStream Control Transmission Protocol (“SCTP”), transmitted via thenetwork 202 layered over an OSI layer-3 network protocol such asInternet Protocol (“IP”), e.g., IPv4 or IPv6. The environment 200 mayinclude many thousands of nodes including, for example, client devices204, companies 116, and data partners 132. Although not illustrated, inmany implementations, network 202 may comprise one or more intermediarydevices, including gateways, routers, firewalls, switches, networkaccelerators, Wi-Fi access points or hotspots, or other devices.

A client device 204 is an electronic device that is under control of auser and is capable of receiving requests for personal identifiableinformation (PII) and transmitting PII data over network 202. Clientdevice 204 may be any number of different types of user electronicdevices adapted to communicate via a network 202, including withoutlimitation, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer,a mobile computer, a tablet computer, a smartphone, a digital videorecorder, a set-top box for a television, a video game console, or anyother type and form of computing device or combinations of devices. Insome implementations, the type of client device 204 may be categorizedas a mobile device, a desktop device, a device intended to remainstationary, a device adapted to primarily access a network via a localarea network (e.g., network 202), or another category of electronicdevices such as a media consumption device. A client device 204 includesa user application, e.g., a web browser, to facilitate the sending andreceiving of data over network 202.

FIG. 3A is a block diagram of one implementation of a client device 204of a client. Client device 204 includes a processor 306 and memory 302.Memory 302 may store machine instructions that, when executed byprocessor 306 cause processor 306 to perform one or more of theoperations described herein. Processor 306 may include a microprocessor,ASIC, FPGA, etc., or combinations thereof. In many implementations,processor 306 may be a multi-core processor or an array of processors.Memory 302 may include, but is not limited to, electronic, optical,magnetic, or any other storage devices capable of providing processor306 with program instructions. Memory 302 may include a floppy disk,CD-ROM, DVD, magnetic disk, memory chip, ROM, RAM, EEPROM, EPROM, flashmemory, optical media, or any other suitable memory from which processor306 can read instructions. The instructions may include code from anysuitable computer programming language such as, but not limited to, C,C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Perl, HTML, XML, Python and Visual Basic.

Client device 204 may include one or more network interfaces 308. Anetwork interface 308 may include any type and form of interface,including Ethernet including 10 Base T, 100 Base T, or 1000 Base T(“Gigabit”); any of the varieties of 802.11 wireless, such as 802.11a,802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, or 802.11ac; cellular, including CDMA, LTE,3G, or 4G cellular; Bluetooth or other short range wireless connections;or any combination of these or other interfaces for communicating with anetwork or other computing devices. In many implementations, clientdevice 204 may include a plurality of network interfaces 308 ofdifferent types, allowing for connections to a variety of networks, suchas local area networks or wide area networks including the Internet, viadifferent sub-networks.

Client device 204 may include one or more user interfaces 304. A userinterface 304 may be any electronic device that conveys data to a userby generating sensory information (e.g., a visualization on a display,one or more sounds, tactile feedback, etc.) and/or converts receivedsensory information from a user into electronic signals (e.g., akeyboard, a mouse, a pointing device, a touch screen display, amicrophone, etc.). The one or more user interfaces may be internal tothe housing of client device 204, such as a built-in display, touchscreen, microphone, etc., or external to the housing of client device204, such as a monitor connected to client device 204, a speakerconnected to client device 204, etc., according to variousimplementations.

Client device 204 may include in memory 302 an application 310 or mayexecute an application 310 with processor 306. Application 310 may be anapplication, applet, script, service, daemon, routine, or otherexecutable logic for receiving content and for transmitting responses,commands, or other data. In one implementation, application 310 may be aweb browser, while in another implementation, application 310 may bemedia presentation application. Application 310 may includefunctionality for displaying content received via network interface 308and/or generated locally by processor 306, and for transmittinginteractions received via a user interface 304, such as requests forwebsites, selections of survey response options, input text strings,etc.

In some implementations, application 310 may include a collection agent312. Collection agent 312 may include an application plug-in,application extension, subroutine, browser toolbar, daemon, or otherexecutable logic for collecting data processed by application 310 and/ormonitoring interactions of a user with a user interface 304. In someimplementations, collection agent 312 may be a separate application,service, daemon, routine, or other executable logic separate fromapplication 310 but adapted for intercepting and/or collecting dataprocessed by application 310, such as a screen scraper, packetinterceptor, Application Programming Interface (API) hooking process, orother such application. Collection agent 312 may be adapted forintercepting or receiving data input via user interface 304, includingmouse clicks, scroll wheel movements, gestures such as swipes, pinches,or touches, or any other such interactions; as well as data received andprocessed by application 310 including keyboard keystrokes.

Client device 204 may include or be identified with a device identifier314 (shown in FIG. 3A as device ID 314). Device identifiers 314 mayinclude any type and form of identification, including withoutlimitation a Media Access Control (MAC) address, text and/or numericaldata string, a username, a cryptographic public key, cookies, deviceserial numbers, user profile data, network addresses, or any other suchidentifier that may be used to distinguish the client device 204 fromother client devices 204. In some implementations, a device identifier314 may be associated with one or more other device identifiers 314(e.g., a device identifier for a mobile device, a device identifier fora home computer, etc.). In many implementations, to preserve privacy,the device identifier 314 may be cryptographically generated, encrypted,or otherwise obfuscated. In some implementations, client device 204 mayinclude a session identifier 316 (shown in FIG. 3A as session ID 316)which may be similar to a device identifier 314 but generated morefrequently, such as hourly, daily, upon activation of application 310,or any other such period. Session identifier 316 may be generated by aclient device 204 or received from a server or other device. Sessionidentifier 316 may be used in place of device identifiers 314 toincrease anonymity, or may be used in connection with device identifiers314 to distinguish interactions of one session from those of anothersession.

Client device 204 may be adapted to receive requests to deliver deviceidentifiers 314, session identifiers 316, and any other PII datacollected by collection agent 312 to a computing device, such as aserver (e.g., PII server 118 a, PII server 118 b linking server 104). Inone implementation, client device 204 may receive a request from PIIservers 118 a to deliver one or more items of PII data associated withclient device 204. In response to the request, collection agent 312searches all software (e.g., cookies stored by browsers) and hardwarecomponents (e.g., devices connected to network interface 308, devicesconnected to user interface 304, cache areas of processor 306, andmemory 302) of client device 204 for all PII data. In someimplementations, collection agent 312 may query application 310 for newPII data not yet stored on client device 204. In one implementation,collection agent 312 may send a request to an internet browser promptingthe user of client device 204 with a pop-up window requesting additionaluser information. The user of client device 204 may respond by enteringthe requested information in the pop-up window to make available tocollection agent 312 for PII gathering. Client device 204 provides theidentifiers 314, session identifiers 316, and any other PII datacollected by collection agent 312 to the requesting server (e.g., PIIserver 118 a, PII server 118 b, linking server 104). In someimplementations, client device 204 compresses (e.g., .bz2, .F, .gz, .lz,.lzma, .lzo, .rz, .sfark, .sz, .xz, .z, .Z) the gathered PII data priorto transmission to the requesting server. In some implementations,client device 204 packages the PII data into an archive file (e.g., .7z,.apk, .bl, .ba, .cab, .cfs, .ear, .jar, .zip). In some implementations,client device 204 periodically transmits PII data to a server withoutthe need to receive a request.

FIG. 3B is a block diagram of a personal identifiable information (PII)server 118, according to one implementation, such as PII servers 118 a,118 b (collectively referred to as PII server 118) of FIG. 1. As withclient device 204, a PII server 118 may include one or more processors306, memories 302, network interfaces 308, and user interfaces 304. Insome implementations referred to as headless servers, a PII server 118may not include a user interface 304, but may communicate with clientdevices 204 with user interfaces 304 via a network. Memory 302 mayinclude PII data storage 326 to store PII data received from clientdevice 204 prior to PII server 118 mapping the PII data to a user tag orbridge tag. In some implementations, memory 302 may store one or moreapplications 310 (not illustrated) for execution by processor 306 of thePII server 118, including File Transfer Protocol (FTP) servers, webservers, mail servers, file sharing servers, peer-to-peer servers, orother such applications for receiving PII data stored in client PII datastorage 320 from client devices 204, delivering PII data (e.g., UT PIImapping 122, BT PII mapping 144), and receiving linkages 124.

PII server 118 may include a PII gathering engine 324. A PII gatheringengine 324 may comprise an application, service, routine, server,daemon, or other executable logic for gathering PII data from one ormore client devices 204 by executing process 400 shown in FIG. 4. Insome implementations, the application, service, routine, server, daemon,or other executable logic executes process 500, shown in FIG. 5, toprepare and deliver data (e.g., UT PII mapping 122, BT PII mapping 144)to linking server 104 and receive data from linking server 104 (e.g.,linkages 124). In some implementations, the application, service,routine, server, daemon, or other executable logic executes process 600,shown in FIG. 6, to prepare and deliver data (e.g., UT PII mapping 122,BT PII mapping 144) to linking server 104 and receive data from linkingserver 104 (e.g., linkages 124).

FIG. 3C is a block diagram of a user identification (UI) linking server,according to one implementation, such as linking server 104 of FIG. 1.As with client device 204, a linking server 104 may include one or moreprocessors 306, memories 302, network interfaces 308, and userinterfaces 304. In some implementations referred to as headless servers,a linking server 104 may not include a user interface 304, but maycommunicate with client devices 204 with user interfaces 304 via anetwork. Memory 302 may include PII mapping data storage 352 to storethe PII mapping data (e.g., UT PII mapping 122, BT PII mapping 144) forfaster read and write access as compared to storing in external storage.In some implementations, memory 302 may store one or more applications310 (not illustrated) for execution by processor 306 of the linkingserver 104, including File Transfer Protocol (FTP) servers, web servers,mail servers, file sharing servers, peer-to-peer servers, or other suchapplications for receiving PII mapping data (e.g., UT PII mapping 122,BT PII mapping 144) from PII servers 118 and delivering linkages 124 toPII servers 118.

Linking server 104 may include a linking engine 354. A linking engine354 may comprise an application, service, routine, server, daemon, orother executable logic for establishing a link between user IDs (e.g.,user tag, bridge tag) by executing process 500 shown in FIG. 5. In someimplementations, the application, service, routine, server, daemon, orother executable logic establishes a link between user IDs (e.g., usertag, bridge tag) by executing process 600, shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of the operations taken by a PII server andclient device(s) in some implementations of a process 400 for gatheringPII data. In some implementations, the process 400 may be performed byPII servers 118 a, 118 b in FIG. 1 and one or more client devices 204 inFIG. 2. In particular, linking server 104 performs operations 402, 412,414, 416, 418, 420, and 422 and PII servers 118 a, 118 b performoperations 404, 408, and 410. Each operation may be re-ordered, added,or removed.

Process 400 begins with operation 402, where PII servers 118 a, 118 b(“requesting servers”) send a request to client device 204 for PII data.At operation 404, client device 204 receives the request for PII data.At operation 408, client device 204 gathers PII data located on clientdevice 204. In one implementation, client device 204 triggers collectionagent 312 to searches all software (e.g., cookies stored by browsers)and hardware components (e.g., devices connected to network interface308, devices connected to user interface 304, cache areas of processor306, and memory 302) of client device 204 for all PII data. In someimplementations, collection agent 312 may query application 310 for newPII data not yet stored on client device 204. In one implementation,collection agent 312 may send a request to an internet browser promptingthe user of client device 204 with a pop-up window requesting additionaluser information. The user of client device 204 may respond by enteringthe requested information in the pop-up window to make available tocollection agent 312 for PII gathering. After gathering all or a portionof PII data associated with client device 204, client device 204delivers the PII data to the requesting server (e.g., PII server 118 a,PII server 118 b).

At operation 412, the requesting server receives the delivered PII data.At operation 414, the requesting server maps the PII data to the useridentification (e.g., user tag or bridge tag) associated with the clientdevice. In one implementation, if PII server 118 a (located at company116) requests the information, then PII server 118 a will identify eachuser of a client device (based on device ID 314) that communicates withany computing device affiliated with company 116 and assigns a “usertag” to the received PII data for the user of the client device.Similarly, if PII server 118 b (located at data partner 132) requeststhe information, then PII server 118 b will identify each user of aclient device (based on device ID 314) that communicates with anycomputing device affiliated with data partner 132 and assigns a “bridgetag” to the received PII data for the user of the client device.

At operation 416, the requesting server organizes the assigned user tagsinto a data structure format (e.g., data structure 126, data structure136) and stores the data structure in a database (e.g., UT PII mappingstorage 120, BT PII mapping storage 134). In some implementations, therequesting server organizes the assigned user tags and PII data into anarray, a linked list, a record, a union, a tagged union, a class, atree, a queue, or a flat file. The requesting server may separatetabular data in a flat file by using special characters, such as acomma, a semicolon, a tab, a space, an underscore, or a hyphen. In oneimplementation, the requesting server may store the contents of datastructure 126 in a comma-separated text file, e.g., as follows:

-   -   1, 9288, cat@mail.com, 555-0100    -   2, 5002, dog1@email.com, 555-0140    -   3, 4263, mouse@email.com, 555-2105    -   4, 1284, snake@email.com, 555-9106    -   5, 0301, bird@email.com, 555-8136

At operation 418, the requesting server determines if additional clientsare affiliated with the requesting server. If there are additionalclients, then at operation 420 the requesting server sends a PII datarequest to the next client device 204 and proceeds to operation 404 torepeat process 400. Once requests have been sent to all client devices,the process ends at operation 422.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of the operations taken by a linking server andPII servers in some implementations of a process 500 for linking usertags and bridge tags. In some implementations, process 500 may beperformed by linking server 104 and PII servers 118 a, 118 b in FIG. 1.The process 500 describes a linking phase using a waterfall approach.Each operation may be re-ordered, added, or removed.

From operation 502 to operation 512, linking server 104 gathers a firstset of data from company 116. In one implementation, at operation 502,linking server 104 sends a request to PII server 118 a for the user tagto PII mapping (e.g., UT PII mapping 122) maintained by company 116. Atoperation 504, PII server 118 a receives the request and in response toreceiving the request, PII server 118 a, at operation 506, retrieves theuser tag to PII mapping (e.g., UT PII mapping 122) from storage (e.g.,UT PII mapping storage 120). At operation 508, PII server 118 a hashesthe PII data associated with each user tag. In one implementation, PIIserver 118 a retrieves from UT PII mapping 122 (or UT PII mappingstorage 120) the email address associated with entry 127 of datastructure 126, hashes the retrieved value, and overwrites the storedemail address with its hash value equivalent. PII server 118 a thenretrieves from UT PII mapping 122 (or UT PII mapping storage 120) thephone number associated with entry 127 of data structure 126, hashes theretrieved value, and overwrites the stored phone number with its hashvalue equivalent. PII server 118 a may repeat the process for each entryin UT PII mapping storage 120. In some implementations, PII server 118 amay encrypt (instead of hashing) the PII data, e.g., using triple DataEncryption Standard (DES), RSA, blowfish, twofish, or the AdvancedEncryption Standard (AES). In some implementations, PII server 118 a mayskip operation 508 such to proceed to operation 510 using raw, un-hashedPII data. In some implementations, each PII server 118 may back-up thecontents of their respective storage (e.g., UT PII mapping storage 120,BT PII mapping storage 134) in a secondary storage (not shown) prior tohashing and overwriting the storage contents.

At operation 510, PII server 118 a retrieves the hashed PII mapping(e.g. UT PII mapping 122) from a data storage (e.g., UT PII mappingstorage 120) and delivers the hashed PII mapping (e.g., UT PII mapping122) to linking server 104. At operation 512, linking server 104receives UT PII mapping 122 from PII server 118 a and stores UT PIImapping 122 in a data storage (e.g., PII mapping storage 106).

From operation 514 to operation 524, linking server 104 gathers a secondset of data from data partner 132. In one implementation, at operation516, linking server 104 sends a request to PII server 118 b for thebridge tag to PII mapping (e.g., BT PII mapping 144) maintained by datapartner 132. At operation 516, PII server 118 b receives the request andin response to receiving the request, PII server 118 b, at operation518, retrieves the bridge tag to PII mapping (e.g., BT PII mapping 144)from storage (e.g., BT PII mapping storage 134). At operation 520, PIIserver 118 b hashes the PII data associated with each bridge tag. Insome implementations, PII server 118 b may encrypt (instead of hashing)the PII data, e.g., using triple Data Encryption Standard (DES), RSA,blowfish, twofish, or Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). In someimplementations, PII server 118 b may skip operation 520 such to proceedto operation 522 using raw, un-hashed PII data. At operation 520, PIIserver 118 b retrieves the hashed PII mapping (e.g. BT PII mapping 144)from a data storage (e.g., BT PII mapping storage 134) and delivers thehashed PII mapping (e.g., BT PII mapping 144) to linking server 104. Atoperation 524, linking server 104 receives BT PII mapping 144 from PIIserver 118 b and stores BT PII mapping 144 in a data storage (e.g., PIImapping storage 106).

In some implementations, PII servers 118 a, 118 b hash their respectivePII data in response to the satisfaction of a triggering event, such as,a predetermined time of day (e.g., specific dates, days of the week,every day, days of the month, such as “at 7:00 pm on Mondays” or “everyday after 7:00 pm”), each time a PII server receives new PII data from aclient device, or each time a client device connects to a PII server.

Still referring to FIG. 5, at operation 526, linking server 104 beginsthe waterfall approach of linking user tags to bridge tags by settingthe waterfall match type (e.g., email address, phone number, socialsecurity number). In one implementation, linking server 104 may selectthe waterfall match type to be the email address for each user.Accordingly, operations 528 to 560 will link user tags to bridge tagsbased on each user's email address. In one implementation, linkingserver 104 may select the waterfall match type to be the phone numberfor each user. Accordingly, operations 528 to 560 will link user tags tobridge tags based on each user's phone number. The match type may beadapted as any PII data value, as described herein.

At operation 528, linking server 104 retrieves the user tag to PIImapping entry from a database (e.g., PII mapping storage 106) based onthe selected PII match type from operation 526. In one implementation,data structure 126 illustrates the data structure for UT PII mapping 122received by linking server 104. Linking server 104 maintains this samedata structure when storing UT PII mapping 122 in PII mapping storage106. If linking server 104 selects ‘email address’ as the match type(i.e., at operation 526), then linking server 104 retrieves the hashedemail address (e.g., cat@email.com) from entry 127 corresponding to thefirst user in data structure 126.

At operation 532, linking server 104 retrieves the bridge tag to PIImapping entry from a database (e.g., PII mapping storage 106) based onthe selected PII match type from operation 526. In one implementation,data structure 136 illustrates the data structure for BT PII mapping 144received by linking server 104. Linking server 104 maintains this samedata structure when storing BT PII mapping 144 in PII mapping storage106. Subsequently, linking server 104 retrieves the hashed email address(e.g., snake@email.com) from entry 138 corresponding to the first userin data structure 136.

At operation 536, linking server 104 compares the retrieved user tag toPII mapping entry and the retrieved bridge tag to PII mapping entry todetermine whether the retrieved values match (operation 538). If a matchis not found, then linking server 104 increments a pointer (e.g., amemory pointer, database pointer, stack pointer) to the next bridge tagto PII mapping entry and proceeds back to operation 532. In someimplementation, linking server 104 moves the pointer to entry 139 (e.g.,bird@email.com) of data structure 136. However, if a match is found,then linking server 104 proceeds to operation 542.

Linking server 104 may compare the values using a string comparisonalgorithm, such as a Brute Force algorithm, a Deterministic FiniteAutomaton algorithm, a Karp-Rabin algorithm, a Shift Or algorithm, aMorris-Pratt algorithm, a Knuth-Morris-Pratt algorithm, a Simonalgorithm, a Colussi algorithm, a Galil-Giancarlo algorithm, anApostolico-Crochemore algorithm, a Not So Naive algorithm, a Boyer-Moorealgorithm, a Turbo BM algorithm, an Apostolico-Giancarlo algorithm, aReverse Colussi algorithm, a Horspool algorithm, a Quick Searchalgorithm, a Tuned Boyer-Moore algorithm, a Zhu-Takaoka algorithm, aBerry-Ravindran algorithm, a Smith algorithm, a Raita algorithm, aReverse Factor algorithm, a Turbo Reverse Factor algorithm, a ForwardDawg Matching algorithm, a Backward Nondeterministic Dawg Matchingalgorithm, a Backward Oracle Matching algorithm, a Galil-Seiferasalgorithm, a Two Way algorithm, a String Matching on Ordered Alphabetsalgorithm, an Optimal Mismatch algorithm, a Maximal Shift algorithm, aSkip Search algorithm, a Knuth-Morris-Pratt (KMP) Skip Search algorithm,and an Alpha Skip Search algorithm. In some implementation, using abrute force algorithm, linking server 104 parses both cat@email.com andsnake@email.com into a first set of individual characters and a secondset of individual characters. Linking server 104 then compares the firstcharacter of the first set of individual characters (e.g., ‘c’ fromcat@email.com) with the first character of the second set of individualcharacters (e.g., ‘s’ from snake@email.com). If there is a match, thenlinking server 104 compares the second character of the first set ofindividual characters (e.g., ‘a’ from cat@email.com) with the secondcharacter of the second set of individual characters (e.g., ‘n’ fromsnake@email.com). Linking server 104 continues thecharacter-to-character comparison to verify that all characters in thefirst set of individual characters (e.g., cat@email.com) match allcharacters in the second set of individual characters (e.g.,snake@email.com).

At operation 542, linking server 104 establishes a link between theretrieved user tag and the retrieved bridge tag. In one implementation,linking server 104 may establish a link by generating data structure110. Each entry of data structure 110 may represent the user common toboth company 116 (represented with a user tag) and data partner 132(represented with a bridge tag).

At operation 544, linking server 104 stores the generated data structure110 in linkage storage 108. For each match identified in operations 536and 538, linking server 104 appends the corresponding user tag andbridge tag. In some implementations, linking server 104 writes to thefirst entry of data structure 110 and pushes all other entries down byone.

At operation 546 linking server removes or deletes the retrieved usertag and all associated PII data from PII mapping storage 106. Similarly,at operation 548, linking server 104 removes or deletes the retrievedbridge tag and all associated PII data from PII mapping storage 106. Insome implementations, linking server 104 may concatenate the informationwith a special character (such as one of: @ ‘, ’, #, $, %, ̂, &, *, /,\, __, a number sequence (e.g., 999), or any combination thereof insteadof deleting the information. For example, linking server 104 may replacebridge tag ‘0301’ in entry 138 of data structure 136 with ‘#0301#’. Insome implementations, special characters may instruct linking server 104to step over the entry during processing or perform other customizedoperations.

At operation 550, linking server 104 checks whether additional user tagto PII mapping entries (e.g., entries 127, 128, 129, 130, 131) exist indata structure 126. If yes, then linking server 104 proceeds tooperation 556 to increment a pointer to the next user tag to PII mappingentry, proceeds to operation 558 to reset the bridge tag to PII mappingpointer to the first entry (e.g., entry 138) of data structure 136, andproceeds back to operation 528 to repeat the process using new retrievedvalues. If no, then linking server 104 proceeds to operation 552 tocheck whether additional match types exist in the match type sequence.If there are additional match types (e.g., email address, phone number),then linking server 104 proceeds to operation 560 to increment thepointer to the next match type and then operation 526 to set thewaterfall matching process to use the next match type. However, iflinking server 104 determines that there are no additional match typesat operation 552, then linking server 104 proceeds to operation 554. Atoperation 554, linking server 104 delivers linkages 124 to company 116.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of the operations taken by a UserIdentification (ID) linking server and PII servers in someimplementations of a process 600 for linking user tags and bridge tags.In some implementations, the process 600 may be performed by linkingserver 104 and PII servers 118 a, 118 b in FIG. 1. In particular, eachclean room 102 operation is performed by linking server 104, eachcompany 116 operation is performed by PII server 118 a, and each datapartner 132 operation is performed by PII server 118 b. The process 600describes an alternate linking phase that includes data partner 132sharing data with company 116 prior to each party delivering their datato clean room 102 for linking of user IDs (e.g., users tags, bridgetags). Each operation may be re-ordered, added, or removed.

For process 600, PII server 118 b (i.e., data partner 132) stores auser-level ID (referred to as a “bridge tag”) to identify each user andmultiple PII-level IDs (referred to as “PII tag-1”, “PII tag-2”, “PIItag-3” . . . “PII tag-n”) to identify each PII data (e.g., emailaddress, phone number) linked to the user. The linking of the user-levelID and each of its associated PII-level IDs may be illustrated with thefollowing mapping expression:

Bridge tag < > Email (PII tag-1) < > Phone Number (PII tag-2)  (1)

In mapping expression (1), the bridge tag assigned to a particular useris associated (< >) with a first PII-level ID (e.g., PII tag-1)representing the user's email address and associated (< >) with a secondPII-level ID (e.g. PII tag-2) representing the user's phone number. Thatis, the user's actual email address and actual phone number are notshown in this expression. Instead, the user's personal identifiableinformation is represented by PII-level IDs. This same nomenclature isused to describe the operations of process 600.

At operation 602, PII server 118 b hashes each PII data associated witheach user affiliated with data partner 132. The hashing procedure andavailable hashing algorithms described in process 500 of FIG. 5 alsoapply to process 602. In some implementations, PII server 118 b mayencrypt each PII data (instead of hashing) using, e.g., triple DataEncryption Standard (DES), RSA, blowfish, twofish, or AdvancedEncryption Standard (AES).

At operation 604, PII server 118 b provides the multiple PII-level ID< > hashed PII mappings for each of its users to PII server 118 a atcompany 116. In one implementation, PII server 118 b sends to PII server118 a, the PII-level ID for a first user's email address (e.g., PIItag-1) associated with (< >) the hashed value of the email address(e.g., hashed (cat@email.com)) associated with (< >) the PII-level IDfor the first user's phone number (e.g., PII tag-2) associated with(< >) the hashed value of the phone number (e.g., hashed (555-0100)).Accordingly, PII server 118 b sends the following mapping to PII server118 a for the second user:

PII tag-1 < > hashed (cat@email.com) < > PII tag-2 < > hashed(555-0100).  (2)

Furthermore, PII server 118 b sends to PII server 118 a, the PII-levelID for a second user's email address (e.g., PII tag-3) associated with(< >) the hashed value of the email address (e.g., hashed(dog1@email.com) associated with (< >) the PII-level ID for the seconduser's phone number (e.g., PII tag-4) associated with (< >) the hashedvalue of the phone number (e.g., hashed (555-0140)). Accordingly, PIIserver 118 b sends the following mapping to PII server 118 a for thesecond user:

PII tag-3 < >hashed (dog1@email.com) < > PII tag-4 < > hashed(555-0100).  (3)

At operation 606, PII server 118 a receives the PII-level ID < > hashedPII mappings from PII server 118 b and stores the received data in localstorage (e.g., UT PII mapping storage 120) or external storage (e.g.,cloud database, remote storage).

At operation 608, PII server 118 a hashes each PII data associated witheach user affiliated with company 116. The hashing procedure andavailable hashing algorithms described in process 500 of FIG. 5 alsoapply to process 602. In some implementations, PII server 118 a mayencrypt each PII data (instead of hashing), using, e.g., triple DataEncryption Standard (DES), RSA, blowfish, twofish, or AdvancedEncryption Standard (AES). To ensure a successful linking of user tagsand bridge tags, PII server 118 a and PII server 118 b use the samehashing function to hash each of their respective data. In someimplementations, the parties use a default hashing function generallyaccepted in the industry. In some implementations, the parties (company116 and data partner 132) communicate with one another to agree on aspecific hashing function.

At operation 610, PII server 118 a establishes a link between the userIDs of company 116 (“user tag”) and the multiple PII-level IDs receivedfrom PII server 118 b. To establish a link, PII server 118 a compares ithashed PII data to the data partner's 132 hashed PII data using any ofthe string comparison algorithms described herein (e.g., Brute Forcealgorithm, a Deterministic Finite Automaton algorithm, a Karp-Rabinalgorithm, etc.). If PII server 118 a determines a match betweencompany's 116 hashed PII data and data partner's 132 hashed PII data,then PII server 118 a links (= =) company's 116 user tag to datapartner's 132 multiple PII-level IDs associated with that user. In oneimplementation, the data partner 132 provides the following mapping fora first user to company 116:

PII tag-1 < > hashed (cat@email.com) < > PII tag-2 < > hashed(555-0100).  (4)

where PII tag-1 is the PII-level ID for the email address ofcat@email.com and PII tag-2 is the PII-level ID for the phone number of555-0100.

PII server 118 a retrieves the following mapping from storage (e.g., UTPII mapping storage 120, cloud storage).

user tag-1 < >hashed (cat2@email.com) < > hashed (555-0100).  (5)

where user tag-1 is the user ID for the same “first” user andcat@email.com is the first PII data associated with the first user and555-0100 is the second PII data associated with the first user.PII server 118 a performs a string comparison between the hashed PIIdata of mapping (4) with the hashed PII data of mapping (5). In someimplementations, PII server 118 a performs a string comparison in thefollowing order:

-   -   First PII data of Mapping (4) compared to First PII data of        Mapping (5)    -   Second PII data of Mapping (4) compared to Second PII data of        Mapping (5)    -   First PII data of Mapping (4) compared to Second PII data of        Mapping (5)    -   Second PII data of Mapping (4) compared to First PII data of        Mapping (5)        In one implementation, PII server 118 a compares hashed        (cat@email.com) from mapping (4) to hashed (cat2@email.com) from        mapping (5) to determine a match. Accordingly, PII server 118 a        links (= =) the user ID (e.g., user tag-1) at company 116        assigned to the “first” user the PII-level ID (e.g., PII tag-1)        for the first hashed PII data and the PII-level ID (e.g., PII        tag-2) for the second hashed PII data as follows:

User tag-1= =PII tag-1, PII tag-2  (6)

PII server 118 a saves the user tag to user-level ID linkages in storage(e.g., UT PII mapping storage 120) for each matching user.

At operation 612, PII server 118 a removes from storage (e.g., UT PIImapping storage 120) all unmatched data. In one implementation, PIIserver 118 a removes all of company's 116 user tags and associated PIIdata, and all data partner's 132 PII-level ID < > hashed PII data thatfail to match.

At operation 614, PII server 118 a retrieves the user tag to user-levelID linkages from storage (e.g., UT PII mapping storage 120) and providesit to the linking server 104 in clean room 102. At operation 616,linking server 104 receives the provided data from PII server 118 a andstores it in a data storage (e.g., PII mapping storage 106). Atoperation 618, PII server 118 b retrieves the bridge tag to user-levelID linkages from storage (e.g., BT PII mapping storage 134) and providesit to the linking server 104 in clean room 102. At operation 620,linking server 104 receives the provided data from PII server 118 b andstores it in a data storage (e.g., PII mapping storage 106).

At operation 622, linking server 104 establishes a link between eachuser tag and bridge tag by comparing and matching the PII-level IDs fromPII server 118 a (i.e., company 116) and the PII-level IDs from PIIserver 118 b (i.e., data partner 132). To establish a link, linkingserver 104 applies the same string comparison technique of operation610, as described herein.

At operation 624, linking server 104 provides the user tag to bridge taglinkages to PII server 118 a (i.e., company 116). At operation 626, PIIserver 118 a receives linkages 124. At operation 628, PII server 118 achecks storage at company 116 (e.g., UT PII mapping storage 120) todetermine if process 600 needs to be repeated for additional data sets.If no, then process 600 ends at operation 630. If yes, then process 600proceeds to operation 632 to select the next data set and then proceedsto operation 602 to repeat process 600.

Many encryption standards have a commutative property such thatencrypting a value twice, once with each of two different keys, willresult in the same encrypted value regardless of which key is usedfirst. That is, for a commutative encryption function Encrypt( ) theresult of Encrypt(Key1, Encrypt(Key2, message)) is equivalent to theresult of Encrypt(Key2, Encrypt(Key1, message)). Accordingly, thecomparisons described above, in reference to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, can beconducted on data that has been double-encrypted. In someimplementations, as described in more detail below, two parties mayexchange data encrypted with respective secret keys and compare theexchanged data by further encrypting it with the other of the respectivesecret keys. Each party has the same result (suitable for comparisons)regardless of which secret key was used first, and without sharing thesecret keys. The process 700, illustrated in FIG. 7, uses this featureof commutative encryption to establish a linkage between user tags and adata partner's bridge tags without use of a clean room environment andwithout sharing internal PII mappings.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of the operations taken by PII servers in someimplementations of a process 700 for linking user tags and bridge tagswithout use of a clean room environment. In some implementations, theprocess 600 may be performed by PII servers 118 a, 118 b shown inFIG. 1. In particular, each company 116 operation is performed by PIIserver 118 a and each data partner 132 operation is performed by PIIserver 118 b. The process 600 describes an alternate process forbringing encrypted PII data together in one place for comparison withoutexposing PII mappings. In some implementations, once the PII server 118b has the encrypted data, the PII data is then compared in the samewaterfall fashion previously described. Each operation may bere-ordered, added, or removed.

For process 600, the company 116 PII server 118 a stores a user-level ID(referred to as a “user tag”) to identify a user, the data partner 132PII server 118 b stores a user-level ID (referred to as a “bridge tag”)to identify a user, and each of the PII servers 118 a, 118 b storemultiple PII data elements corresponding to various PII data (e.g.,email address, phone number) linked to the users. The PII server 118 bgenerates data pairs of bridge tags (e.g., “BT1,” “BT2,” etc.) andencrypted individual PII data elements (e.g., “PII1.1,” “PII1.2,”“PII12.1,” etc., referred to in encrypted form as “E(Key,PII#)” toindicate the data encrypted and the encryption key used). The encryptionalgorithm used for encrypting the PII data elements is a deterministiccommutative encryption algorithm (e.g., exponentiation modulo a largeprime). The company 116 PII server 118 a further encrypts the user tagsand bridge tags. The algorithm used to by the company 116 PII server 118a to encrypt the user tags and bridge tags is a deterministic encryptionalgorithm, but does not need to be commutative and, in someimplementations, is a different algorithm then the one used forencrypting PII data. Symmetric encryption algorithms (using a single keyfor both encryption and decryption) or asymmetric encryption algorithms(using a pair of keys, one for encryption and the other for reciprocaldecryption) may be used. The following description assumes a symmetric(single key) algorithm is used for each encryption action, and as suchonly encryption keys are described. However, in some implementations,one or more asymmetric encryption algorithms may be used.

As described in more detail below, in the process 700, each of the PIIservers 118 a, 118 b encrypt the PII data such that the data partner 132PII server 118 b obtains a set of double-encrypted PII data associatedwith encrypted user tags and a set of double-encrypted PII dataassociated with encrypted bridge tags. The data partner 132 PII server118 b then compares the double-encrypted PII data to identifycorrelations between encrypted user tags and bridge tags. The datapartner 132 PII server 118 b returns the correlations the company 116PII server 118 a, which then decrypts the tag data and has the desiredtag linkage data without anyone having revealed internal PII or PIImappings.

At operation 710, the data partner 132 PII server 118 b generates anencryption key, X. In some implementations, the PII server 118 b alwaysuses the same key, X. In some implementations, the PII server 118 bgenerates a new key, X, for each invocation of the process 700. Theencryption key, X, is kept secret by the data partner 132 and may bediscarded after completion of the process 700.

At operation 715, which may be before, after, or in parallel withoperation 710, the PII server 118 a on the company 116 side generatestwo unrelated encryption keys G and Z. The key G is for use inencrypting the user tags and bridge tags. In some implementations, thekey G and the key Z are generated by the PII server 118 a for differentencryption algorithms. In some implementations, the encryption algorithmused for encrypting the user tags and bridge tags is non-commutative.The encryption keys, G and Z, are kept secret by the company 116 and oneor both may be discarded after completion of the process 700.

At operation 718, the data partner 132 PII server 118 b uses theencryption key, X, to encrypt each PII data element individually. ThePII server 118 b generates data pairs of a user's bridge tag and eachPII data element associated with the user's bridge tag, each PII dataelement encrypted using the key, X. Accordingly, where the data partner132 might map a bridge tag to an e-mail address and to a phone number,the PII server 118 b encrypts the e-mail address to generate a firstdata pair of the bridge tag and the encrypted e-mail address, and thePII server 118 b encrypts the phone number to generate a second datapair of the bridge tag and the encrypted phone number.

At operation 720, the data partner 132 PII server 118 b sends the datapairs of {bridge tag, encrypted PII} to the company 116 PII server 118a. In some implementations, the data partner 132 PII server 118 b sendsthe data via a data link to the company 116 PII server 118 a, e.g., viaTCP, SCTP, or any other OSI layer-4 transport protocol. In someimplementations, the data link is a secured network link, e.g., using anadditional layer of end-to-end encryption. In some implementations, thedata partner 132 PII server 118 b sends the data via a peer-to-peer linkto the company 116 PII server 118 a. At operation 725, the company 116PII server 118 a receives the data pairs from the data partner 132 PIIserver 118 b.

An example of the data sent by the data partner 132 PII server 118 b atoperation 720 is a series of data pairs {BT1, E(X, PII1.1)}, {BT1, E(X,PII1.2)}, {BT2, E(X, PII2.1)}, and so forth. In this example, “BT1” and“BT2” are example bridge tags, each paired with an encrypted PII dataelement, PII1.1, PII1.2, PII2.1, etc. The company 116 PII server 118 awould receive this data at operation 725 and then have possession of aset of bridge tags each paired with encrypted data. Accordingly, the PIIdata is obfuscated and protected. No personal information is shared.

At operation 733, the company 116 PII server 118 a uses encryption keysto encrypt the partner data, using G to encrypt each bridge tag and Z todouble-encrypt the already encrypted partner PII data. The result ofthis operation is that a received bridge tag and encrypted PII dataelement pair becomes an encrypted bridge tag and a double-encrypted PIIdata element pair: {BT, E(X, PII)} becomes {E(G, BT), E(Z, E(X, PII))}.

At operation 735, the company 116 PII server 118 a sends thedouble-encrypted data pairs to the data partner 132 PII server 118 b. Insome implementations, the company 116 PII server 118 a sends the datavia a data link to the data partner 132 PII server 118 b, e.g., via TCP,SCTP, or any other OSI layer-4 transport protocol. In someimplementations, the data link is a secured network link, e.g., using anadditional layer of end-to-end encryption. In some implementations, thecompany 116 PII server 118 a sends the data via a peer-to-peer link tothe data partner 132 PII server 118 b. In some implementations, thecompany 116 PII server 118 a sends the data using the same link used inoperation 720. In some implementations, prior to (or while) sending thedouble-encrypted data pairs, the company 116 PII server 118 a shufflesthe order of the data pairs (keeping each pair intact). The shufflingcauses a set of data pairs received by the company 116 PII server 118 aat operation 725 in a first ordering to be re-ordered such that when thedouble-encrypted data pairs are returned to the data partner 132 PIIserver 118 b at operation 735, they are returned in a second orderingthat is different from the first ordering. This shuffling furtherobfuscates relationships between the encrypted data and the originalsources of the data. The data partner 132 PII server 118 b receives theencrypted (and in some implementations, shuffled) data at operation 738.

An example of the data sent by the company 116 PII server 118 a atoperation 735 is a series of data pairs, based on the previous example,double-encrypted and shuffled at operation 733. In this example, theencryption and shuffling results in the series {E(G, BT1), E(Z, E(X,PII1.1))}, {E(G,BT2), E(Z,E(X, PII2.1))}, {E(G, BT1), E(Z, E(X,PII1.2))}, and so forth. The data partner 132 PII server 118 b wouldreceive this data at operation 738 and then have possession of a set ofencrypted bridge tags each paired with double-encrypted data.Accordingly, the PII data is still obfuscated and protected. No personalinformation is shared.

At operation 743, which may be before, after, or in parallel withoperations 725, 733, and 735, the PII server 118 a on the company 116side uses the encryption keys G, Z to encrypt company 116 PII data. ThePII server 118 a encrypts internal user tags with the key G. In someimplementations, the PII server 118 a encrypts internal user tags withan alternative key G′. In some implementations, the PII server 118 agenerates a one-time mapping of internal user tags to randomlocally-unique values and substitutes the random values for thecorresponding user tags (retaining the mapping for use in laterreversing this process). The PII server 118 a generates data pairs ofthe encrypted (or substitute) user tags with corresponding associatedPII data elements. In each data pairing, the PII server 118 a encryptsthe PII data element using the key Z. In some implementations, the PIIserver 118 a further generates false data pairs containing fake usertags and/or fake PII data elements. This additional false data helpsobfuscate the real data and can confound unauthorized attempts toreverse the encryption process.

At operation 745, the company 116 PII server 118 a sends the encryptedcompany data to the data partner 132 PII server 118 b. In someimplementations, the company 116 PII server 118 a sends the data via adata link to the data partner 132 PII server 118 b, e.g., via TCP, SCTP,or any other OSI layer-4 transport protocol. In some implementations,the data link is a secured network link, e.g., using an additional layerof end-to-end encryption. In some implementations, the company 116 PIIserver 118 a sends the data via a peer-to-peer link to the data partner132 PII server 118 b. In some implementations, the company 116 PIIserver 118 a sends the data using the same link used in operation 720and/or operation 735. At operation 748, the data partner 132 PII server118 b receives the encrypted company data pairs from the company 116 PIIserver 118 a.

An example of the data sent by the company 116 PII server 118 a atoperation 745 is a series of data pairs {E(G,UT1), E(Z, PII1.1)},{E(G,UT3), E(Z, PII3.1)}, {E(G,UT5), E(Z, PII5.1)}, and so forth. Inthis example, “UT1,” “UT3,” and “UT5” are example user tags, each pairedwith an encrypted PII data element, PII1.1, PI13.1, PII5.1, etc. Thedata partner 132 PII server 118 b would receive this data at operation748 and then have possession of a set of encrypted user tags each pairedwith encrypted PII data. Accordingly, the PII data is protected. Nopersonal information is shared.

At operation 756, the data partner 132 PII server 118 b uses encryptionkey X to double-encrypt each PII data element individually in the datasent by the company 116 PII server 118 a in operation 745. For example,in operation 748 the PII server 118 b may have received a data pair foruser tag “UT1” associated with PII data element “PII1.1,” which thecompany 116 PII server 118 a server encrypted as E(Z, PII1.1). The datapair may be represented as {E(G,UT1), E(Z, PII1.1)}. At operation 756,the data partner 132 PII server 118 b uses encryption key X todouble-encrypt the PII element, resulting in a data pair {E(G,UT1), E(X,E(Z, PII1.1))}.

In some implementations, rather than double-encrypting the data receivedat operation 748, the data partner 132 PII server 118 b instead appliesa decryption process to the double-encrypted data received at operation738. In the decryption process, the data partner 132 PII server 118 buses the key X (or a decryption key corresponding to the key X) toremove the original encryption applied at operation 718. This decryptionprocess does not remove the encryption applied by the company 116 PIIserver 118 a at operation 733 and results in a single-encrypted valuethat is encrypted by the key Z. That is, Decrypt(X′, Encrypt(Z,Encrypt(X, message)))=Encrypt(Z, message). Then, when the data partner132 PII server 118 b receives the single encrypted data at operation748, the comparison at operation 760 may be conducted without operation756. In some implementations, this alternative is invoked only if theset of data received at operation 748 is larger than the data sent atoperation 720 by at least a threshold amount.

At operation 760, the data partner 132 PII server 118 b compares thedouble-encrypted data sets from operations 738 and 756. Because theencryption algorithm used for encrypting PII is commutative, E(X, E(Z,PII1.1)) is equal to E(Z, E(X, PII1.1)). As a result, the data partner132 PII server 118 b can compare the E(X, E(Z, PII1.1)) value generatedat operation 756 to values received at operation 738 and identifymatches such as E(Z, E(X, PII1.1)). Because the comparisons at operation760 are on encrypted data, no personal identifying data is revealed.Further, linkages between the different types of PII data are notrevealed.

At operation 766, the data partner 132 PII server 118 b identifiesbridge linkages of associations between user tags and bridge tags. Anassociation exists where an encrypted user tag and an encrypted bridgetag are both associated with the same double-encrypted PII dataelements. In some implementations, at operation 766, the data partner132 PII server 118 b generates a map of encrypted user tags linked toencrypted bridge tags based on matched double-encrypted PII elements. Insome implementations, there will be many correlations between encrypteduser tags and encrypted bridge tags; in some such implementations, thedata partner 132 PII server 118 b filters out redundant correlations. Insome implementations, multiple tags will correspond to the same PII. Forexample, multiple users may have the same address, same phone number,same city, same age bracket, etc. In some implementations, the datapartner 132 PII server 118 b identifies the strongest correlationbetween an encrypted user tag and an encrypted bridge tag, e.g., basedon having a highest number of matched PII elements (compared to othertags). In some implementations, the data partner 132 PII server 118 bfilters out any associations leading to mapping more than one encrypteduser tag to a particular encrypted bridge tag. In some implementations,the data partner 132 PII server 118 b applies additional filters. Insome implementations, provides the aggregate data to the company 116 PIIserver 118 a for analysis; in some such implementations, the aggregatedata is provided without the data partner 132 PII server 118 b applyingany filters.

At operation 760, the data partner 132 PII server 118 b sends the bridgelinkage data to the company 116 PII server 118 a. In someimplementations, the data partner 132 PII server 118 b sends the datavia a data link to the company 116 PII server 118 a, e.g., via TCP,SCTP, or any other OSI layer-4 transport protocol. In someimplementations, the data link is a secured network link, e.g., using anadditional layer of end-to-end encryption. In some implementations, thedata partner 132 PII server 118 b sends the data via a peer-to-peer linkto the company 116 PII server 118 a. In some implementations, thecompany 116 PII server 118 a sends the data using the same link used inoperation 720. In some implementations, the data partner 132 PII server118 b transmits a map, generated at operation 765, to the company 116PII server 118 a. In some implementations, the data partner 132 PIIserver 118 b sends linkage pairs as sets of encrypted user tags andencrypted bridge tags, e.g., {E(G, UT1), E(G, BT1)}.

At operation 775, the company 116 PII server 118 a receives the datapairs from the data partner 132 PII server 118 b. The company 116 PIIserver 118 a can then decrypt the linkages using the key G (or adecryption key corresponding to the key G). The use of the thirdencryption key, G, improves the security of the data exchange andfurther protects the internal linkage data from being divulged.

In many implementations, data collected about a user may be anonymizedor disambiguated to protect privacy. In many implementations in whichpersonal information about the user of client device may be collectedfor measurement or used to select third-party content, the user may beprovided with an opportunity to control whether programs or featuresthat may collect personal information (e.g., information about a user'ssocial network, social actions or activities, a user's preferences, or auser's current location) do so, or an opportunity to control whether orhow to transmit measurement data to a PII server (e.g., PII server 118a, 118 b). In addition, certain PII data may be treated in one or moreways before it is stored or used by a PII server or linking server, sothat personally identifiable information is removed when generatingparameters (e.g., demographic parameters). A user's identity may beanonymized so that no personally identifiable information can bedetermined for the user, or a user's geographic location may begeneralized where location information is obtained (such as to a city,ZIP code, or state level), so that a particular location of a usercannot be determined. Thus, the user may have control over howinformation is collected about him or her and used by the PII serversand linking servers.

Implementations of the subject matter and the operations described inthis specification can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry,or in computer software, firmware, or hardware, including the structuresdisclosed in this specification and their structural equivalents, or incombinations of one or more of them. Implementations of the subjectmatter described in this specification can be implemented as one or morecomputer programs, i.e., one or more modules of computer programinstructions, encoded on one or more computer storage medium forexecution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus.Alternatively or in addition, the program instructions can be encoded onan artificially-generated propagated signal, e.g., a machine-generatedelectrical, optical, or electromagnetic signal, that is generated toencode information for transmission to suitable receiver apparatus forexecution by a data processing apparatus. A computer storage medium canbe, or be included in, a computer-readable storage device, acomputer-readable storage substrate, a random or serial access memoryarray or device, or a combination of one or more of them. Moreover,while a computer storage medium is not a propagated signal, a computerstorage medium can be a source or destination of computer programinstructions encoded in an artificially generated propagated signal. Thecomputer storage medium can also be, or be included in, one or moreseparate components or media (e.g., multiple CDs, disks, or otherstorage devices). Accordingly, the computer storage medium may betangible.

The operations described in this specification can be implemented asoperations performed by a data processing apparatus on data stored onone or more computer-readable storage devices or received from othersources.

The term “client or “server” include all kinds of apparatus, devices,and machines for processing data, including a programmable processor, acomputer, a system on a chip, or multiple ones or combinations, of theforegoing. The apparatus can include special purpose logic circuitry,e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC (applicationspecific integrated circuit). The apparatus can also include, inaddition to hardware, code that creates an execution environment for thecomputer program in question, e.g., code that constitutes processorfirmware, a protocol stack, a database management system, an operatingsystem, a cross-platform runtime environment, a virtual machine, or acombination of one or more of them. The apparatus and executionenvironment can realize various different computing modelinfrastructures, such as web services, distributed computing and gridcomputing infrastructures.

A computer program (also known as a program, software, softwareapplication, script, or code) can be written in any form of programminglanguage, including compiled or interpreted languages, declarative orprocedural languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as astand-alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, object, orother unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computerprogram may, but need not, correspond to a file in a file system. Aprogram can be stored in a portion of a file that holds other programsor data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in a markup languagedocument), in a single file dedicated to the program in question, or inmultiple coordinated files (e.g., files that store one or more modules,sub programs, or portions of code). A computer program can be deployedto be executed on one computer or on multiple computers that are locatedat one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by acommunication network.

The processes and logic flows described in this specification can beperformed by one or more programmable processors executing one or morecomputer programs to perform actions by operating on input data andgenerating output. The processes and logic flows can also be performedby, and apparatus can also be implemented as, special purpose logiccircuitry, e.g., a System on a Chip (SOC), a field programmable gatearray (FPGA), or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include bothgeneral and special purpose microprocessors, and any one or moreprocessors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, a processor willreceive instructions and data from a read only memory or a random accessmemory or both. The essential elements of a computer are a processor forperforming actions in accordance with instructions and one or morememory devices for storing instructions and data. Generally, a computerwill also include, or be operatively coupled to receive data from ortransfer data to, or both, one or more mass storage devices for storingdata, e.g., magnetic, magneto optical disks, or optical disks. However,a computer need not have such devices. Moreover, a computer can beembedded in another device, e.g., a mobile telephone, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a mobile audio or video player, a game console, aGlobal Positioning System (GPS) receiver, or a portable storage device(e.g., a universal serial bus (USB) flash drive), to name just a few.Devices suitable for storing computer program instructions and datainclude all forms of non-volatile memory, media and memory devices,including semiconductor memory devices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flashmemory devices; magnetic disks, e.g., internal hard disks or removabledisks; magneto optical disks; and CD ROM and DVD-ROM disks. Theprocessor and the memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in,special purpose logic circuitry.

To provide for interaction with a user, implementations of the subjectmatter described in this specification can be implemented on a computerhaving a display device, e.g., a cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), organic light emitting diode (OLED), thin-film transistor(TFT), plasma, other flexible configuration, or any other monitor fordisplaying information to the user and a keyboard, a pointing device,e.g., a mouse, trackball, etc., or a touch screen, touch pad, etc., bywhich the user can provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devicescan be used to provide for interaction with a user as well; feedbackprovided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback, e.g., visualfeedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; and input from theuser can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, or tactileinput. In addition, a computer can interact with a user by sendingdocuments to and receiving documents from a device that is used by theuser; e.g., by sending webpages to a web browser on a user's clientdevice in response to requests received from the web browser.

Implementations of the subject matter described in this specificationcan be implemented in a computing system that includes a back endcomponent, e.g., as a data server, or that includes a middlewarecomponent, e.g., an application server, or that includes a front endcomponent, e.g., a client computer having a graphical user interface ora Web browser through which a user can interact with an implementationof the subject matter described in this specification, or anycombination of one or more such back end, middleware, or front endcomponents. The components of the system can be interconnected by anyform or medium of digital data communication, e.g., a communicationnetwork. Communication networks can include various combinations of alocal area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), aninter-network (e.g., the Internet), and peer-to-peer networks (e.g., adhoc peer-to-peer networks).

While this specification contains many specific implementation details,these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of anyinventions or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions offeatures specific to particular implementations of particularinventions. Certain features that are described in this specification inthe context of separate implementations can also be implemented incombination in a single implementation. Conversely, various featuresthat are described in the context of a single implementation can also beimplemented in multiple implementations separately or in any suitablesubcombination. Moreover, although features may be described above asacting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, oneor more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excisedfrom the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to asubcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processingmay be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various systemcomponents in the implementations described above should not beunderstood as requiring such separation in all implementations, and itshould be understood that the described program components and systemscan generally be integrated together in a single software product orpackaged into multiple software products.

Thus, particular implementations of the subject matter have beendescribed. Other implementations are within the scope of the followingclaims. In some cases, the actions recited in the claims can beperformed in a different order and still achieve desirable results. Inaddition, the processes depicted in the accompanying figures do notnecessarily require the particular order shown, or sequential order, toachieve desirable results. In certain implementations, multitasking orparallel processing may be utilized.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for linking user identifiers, the methodcomprising: receiving, by a linking server and from a company server, afirst data structure comprising entries, each entry comprising a usertag, a first hashed user information, and a second hashed userinformation, each entry associated with a client device; receiving, by alinking server and from a partner server, a second data structurecomprising entries, each entry comprising a bridge tag, a first hashedbridge information, and a second hashed bridge information, each entryassociated with a client device; retrieving, by the linking server andfrom the first data structure, a first entry of the entries of the firstdata structure; retrieving, by the linking server and from the seconddata structure, a first entry of the entries of the second datastructure; comparing, by the linking server, the first hashed userinformation of the first entry of the first data structure to the firsthashed bridge information of the first entry of the second datastructure; and linking, by the linking server and in response todetermining a match, the user tag of the first entry of the first datastructure to the bridge tag of the first entry of the second datastructure to generate a first linkage.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereincomparing comprises: parsing, by the linking server, the first hasheduser information of the first entry of the first data structure into afirst set of characters; parsing, by the linking server, the firsthashed bridge information of the first entry of the second datastructure into a second set of characters; and comparing, by the linkingserver, a character from the first set of characters to a character fromthe second set of characters.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising providing, by the linking server and to the company server,the first linkage.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the linking serverexists inside a clean room environment and wherein the company serverexists outside the clean room environment and wherein the partner serverexists outside the clean room environment.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising removing, by the linking server, the first entry ofthe first data structure and the first entry of the second datastructure.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: retrieving, bythe linking server and from the first data structure, a second entry ofthe entries of the first data structure; retrieving, by the linkingserver and from the second data structure, a second entry of the entriesof the second data structure; and comparing, by the linking server, thefirst hashed user information of the second entry of the first datastructure to the first hashed bridge information of the second entry ofthe second data structure.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:determining, by the linking server, a mismatch between the first hasheduser information of the second entry of the first data structure to thefirst hashed bridge information of the second entry of the second datastructure; and comparing, by the linking server, the second hashed userinformation of the second entry of the first data structure to thesecond hashed bridge information of the second entry of the second datastructure.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, bythe linking server, a mismatch between the first hashed user informationof the first entry of the first data structure to the first hashedbridge information of the first entry of the second data structure;retrieving, by the linking server and from the second data structure, asecond entry of the entries; and comparing, by the linking server, thefirst hashed user information of the first entry of the first datastructure to the first hashed bridge information of the second entry ofthe second data structure.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:comparing, by the linking server, the second hashed user information ofthe first entry of the first data structure to the second hashed bridgeinformation of the second entry of the second data structure; linking,by the linking server and in response to determining a match, the usertag of the first entry of the first data structure to the bridge tag ofthe first entry of the second data structure to generate a firstlinkage; and providing, by the linking server and to the company server,the first linkage.
 10. A system for linking user identifiers, the systemcomprising a linking server configured to: receive, from a companyserver, a first data structure comprising entries, each entry comprisinga user tag, a first hashed user information, and a second hashed userinformation, each entry associated with a user of a client device;receive, from a partner server, a second data structure comprisingentries, each entry comprising a bridge tag, a first hashed bridgeinformation, and a second hashed bridge information, each entryassociated with a user of a client device; retrieve, from the first datastructure, a first entry of the entries of the first data structure;retrieve, from the second data structure, a first entry of the entriesof the second data structure; compare, the first hashed user informationof the first entry of the first data structure to the first hashedbridge information of the first entry of the second data structure; andlink, in response to determining a match, the user tag of the firstentry of the first data structure to the bridge tag of the first entryof the second data structure to generate a first linkage.
 11. The systemof claim 10, the linking server further configured to: parse the firsthashed user information of the first entry of the first data structureinto a first set of characters; parse the first hashed bridgeinformation of the first entry of the second data structure into asecond set of characters; and compare a character from the first set ofcharacters to a character from the second set of characters.
 12. Thesystem of claim 10, the linking server further configured to: provide,to the company server, the first linkage.
 13. The system of claim 12,wherein the linking server exists inside a clean room environment andwherein the company server exists outside the clean room environment andwherein the partner server exists outside the clean room environment.14. The system of claim 10, the linking server further configured to:remove the first entry of the first data structure and the first entryof the second data structure.
 15. The system of claim 10, the linkingserver further configured to: retrieve, from the first data structure, asecond entry of the entries; retrieve, from the second data structure, asecond entry of the entries; and compare the first hashed userinformation of the second entry of the first data structure to the firsthashed bridge information of the second entry of the second datastructure.
 16. The system of claim 15, the linking server furtherconfigured to: determine a mismatch between the first hashed userinformation of the second entry of the first data structure to the firsthashed bridge information of the second entry of the second datastructure; and compare the second hashed user information of the secondentry of the first data structure to the second hashed bridgeinformation of the second entry of the second data structure.
 17. Thesystem of claim 10, the linking server further configured to: determinea mismatch between the first hashed user information of the first entryof the first data structure to the first hashed bridge information ofthe first entry of the second data structure; retrieve, from the seconddata structure, a second entry of the entries of the second datastructure; and compare the first hashed user information of the firstentry of the first data structure to the first hashed bridge informationof the second entry of the second data structure.
 18. The system ofclaim 17, the linking server further configured to: compare the secondhashed user information of the first entry of the first data structureto the second hashed bridge information of the second entry of thesecond data structure; link, in response to determining a match, theuser tag of the first entry of the first data structure to the bridgetag of the first entry of the second data structure to generate a firstlinkage; and provide, to the company server, the first linkage.
 19. Amethod for linking user identifiers, the method comprising: receiving,by a linking server and from a company server, a first data structurecomprising entries, each entry comprising a user tag, a first hasheduser information, and a second hashed user information, each entryassociated with a user of a client device; receiving, by a linkingserver and from a partner server, a second data structure comprisingentries, each entry comprising a bridge tag, a first hashed bridgeinformation, and a second hashed bridge information, each entryassociated with a user of a client device; generating, by the linkingserver, a third data structure based on the first data structure and thesecond data structure; and providing, by the linking server and to thecompany server, the third data structure.
 20. A method of claim 19,wherein the first data structure comprises a first email addressassociated with a client device and a first phone number associated withthe client device and wherein the second data structure comprises asecond email address associated with the client device and a secondphone number associated with the client device.